After inhaling the sweet air of a 54-13 victory over Colorado Saturday night, Arizona State players walked to the stands and sang the school’s victory song. Soon, Todd Graham felt somebody lurking behind him.

“Coach, we’ve got to go to work on Washington,” defensive tackle Will Sutton told him. “It’s going to be a big deal.”

“That’s never happened before,” Graham said later. “They’re usually celebrating the win.”

Credit the Sun Devils for embracing what’s important. The team has arrived at a major crossroads.

The No. 16 Huskies. Saturday. Sun Devil Stadium.

Win and ASU is 5-2 with a 10-day break before embarking on the rest of its schedule.

Lose and it is 4-3 with back-to-back roads game against Washington State, the surprise of the Pac-12 Conference, and Utah, which upset Stanford Saturday.

“Our guys know we have a heck of a football team coming in here next week,” Graham said. Admit it. You were curious.

You wondered if ASU players would stumble into Sun Devil Stadium Saturday with stars circling their heads after a challenging four-game gauntlet.

Hardly. If anything, the Sun Devils charged past the Tillman gate with a new appreciation of what it takes to compete against the best. And they took it out on the, well, not so best.

The effort means important momentum for Saturday’s meeting with the Huskies. A victory would thrust the Sun Devils back into the national spotlight. A loss, followed by another to the Cougars, and the Sun Devils would be .500 with no home games until Nov. 16. That’s a bad place to be with the Suns under way on Oct. 30, the Coyotes in full swing and talk beginning to shift to college basketball.

That’s speculation. What happened Saturday was real life, a team not letting a loss to Notre Dame on a large stage last week get too deep into its head.

If the Buffaloes were another measuring stick, the Sun Devils should feel good about themselves. They accumulated 532 yards of offense. Nine of their first 10 drives ended with a score. Jaelen Strong had three catches for 109 yards. And an ASU rushing defense that is ranked 11th in the Pac-12 allowed just 99 yards.

Those numbers should be a confidence boost with the Huskies coming into town. ASU has a chance to be undefeated at home (games against Oregon State and Arizona also remain) for only the second time in 17 years.

ASU’s athletic department has shown a strong commitment to the program this season. A 5-2 start would continue the momentum in the community, maintain the goodwill within the department and keep the discussion about the program alive on the airwaves.

All of that matters for a team trying to take the next big step, from recognition on a national scale that will help with recruiting to drumming up excitement for a large booster base that has been tight with its money.

Saturday’s crowd was proof that ASU still has a ways to go. There were big empty spaces in the seating at Sun Devil Stadium, in large part because many students are away from campus taking advantage of a fall break.

With elite programs, that doesn’t happen.

Winning is a great way to secure fans’ attention.

ASU had their attention at the start of this game. Just 1:27 in, Taylor Kelly found Strong and the pair connected on a 69-yard scoring play.

ASU’s second possession took only a little longer: 1:53, after a Marion Grice 8-yard run.

This game showed the value of playing difficult opponents. In their gauntlet of tough opponents, the Sun Devils won convincingly (USC), won a close game (Wisconsin), lost big (Stanford) and lost a close game (Notre Dame).

Talk about lessons learned. In every game they play the remainder of the season, there will be something to draw from one of those meetings.

This game was evidence that the concern some expressed about Kelly after the Notre Dame loss was overreaction. Kelly is both accurate and able to extend plays with his legs. That’s a skill set not all quarterbacks in the Pac-12 possess.

Just ask the eight conference teams ranked below ASU in passing offense coming into this game.

Kelly finished 9 for 19 for 233 yards and two touchdowns. Everything you need to know about him could be found during the game’s opening drive, when he ran for eight yards on a third and 6 and then two plays later found Strong.

And then there was a crazy 17-yard touchdown run just before the half that unfolded after he spun away from pressure.

It was ASU domination all the way.

“After the game, there was nothing but talk of Washington,” Graham said.

That’s good. It’s an important one for ASU.

Reach Boivin at paola.boivin@arizonarepublic.com and follow her on Twitter at Twitter.com/PaolaBoivin. Listen to her on “Big Guy on Sports” streaming live on pros2preps.com with Brad Cesmat every Monday at 10:30 a.m.

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